Somateria fischeri
Length: 21 Weight: 3.5 lbs
Identification:
Male and female have distinct spectacles around the eye. Male is black below with a white neck and back, and greenish feathering forming spectacles.
Distribution:
Breed in coastal Alaska and parts of Russia. Winter in the Bering Sea.
Cool Facts:
Spectacled Eiders are a federally threatened species.
Low population numbers and remote habitats mean Spectacled Eiders continue to be a poorly understood species. The wintering grounds for these ducks were virtually unknown until 1995, when radio telemetry revealed that nearly the entire population winters as massive flocks in ice-free portions of the Bering Sea.
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